The Wild Goose Chase
by WolfTownTiger
Summary: The turtles are going after a Kraangdroid, which just happens to have a bigger and more unsuspected result than they thought.


**Hey, guys! Whew, it took some time for me to do this. So busy some times! All I can say is it made for TMNT 2012, but I guess the other versions couldn't hurt, right.?Nothing much to say really, but to enjoy and comment! See ya! **

**Oh and Happy 30th Anniversary, TMNT!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own TMNT**

**I apologize for any mistakes in this.**

**~WTT**

* * *

The Wild Goose Chase

It has finally come to this day; a day that the turtle brothers hoped to reach and get their desired goal down. The goal the turtles had practiced years to finish once and for all. They prepared for their upcoming battle. The battle in finally succeeding the one skill needed to defeat their enemy. And that enemy is failure. The three, now ready and armed, stood outside the very separation between peace and war.

Yes, you read it right. Three. Fortunately, one of the four had no need to accomplish this mission. He had already mastered this important skill as a kid. He had no need to do much more. But his brothers, his dear brothers...he hoped that he taught them enough.

He breathed out a sigh. The leader was in his room, leaning backwards on his closed door. He cannot interfere in this, no matter how much he wanted to help. His Master told him to stay put, have faith, and hope for the best. He couldn't help, but worry. Were his brothers ready? Did he once again fail to teach them this lesson that could save their lives? Oh, how it would make him elated to know if his brothers could finally do what he taught them.

What was the possibility? This is the real deal. Anything can happen. And absolutely no force can stop it once it had begun its horrible fury.

Now is the time to go to his brothers and give them one last speech of glory and dignity. Before he could hesitate and hold back anymore, he opened the door. He had to continue. Humbly, he walked in slow rhythm to his brothers, hands behind his back with his head held high.

The three brothers turned their heads to face their leader of the whole operation. They knew that soon, they were going in.

"My fellow ninjas," The leader began to say. Gracefully, he walked in front of his brothers, back and forth. His brothers stood up straight and still, looking towards their door of battle with great patience. "my brothers. Now is the time to build up all the courage we gained from all these years and use it in this battle of freedom. You will all fight with the essence of grace and integrity. But I will not go, because this is your fight, not mine. Do not fear of failure. I have faith in all of you. And if things do go wrong, know that with fighting in this history changing war that you have honor. There is nothing more I can say than: Good Luck."

They all bowed and said in unison, "It has been an honor to serve with you."

The leader responded with a slight nod. With one last look, he walked away.

There was no turning back now. The three took out their needed weapons for the fight. They knew without it, hands down the win will go to the enemy.

Finally, the moment came. They didn't even think about it before they yelled their battle cries and charged forward into the room.

The leader pushed down the urge to barge in and help them in their life-threatening crisis. But he was inclined to follow what he had planned and that was to NOT interfere. But it was getting much harder by the minute. He could hear the grunts and and yelps of pain. He didn't know how much he can bear.

He tried to distract himself, convince himself, anything to keep himself away from worry, but he was doing just that. He even locked away his beloved tool so he wouldn't be tempted to grab it and go into combat.

He walked back and forth, and it suddenly reminded him that he did the same thing in front of his brothers, giving them an encouraging speech. He halted and thought of this was even a good idea to begin with.

No, it wasn't. It wasn't worth it. He ran to get his weapon, but he once again halted. But he can't keep helping them forever. They had to do it alone.

He finally had it when he heard the thuds and clatter of objects falling to the ground. He had no time to get his weapons and bolted out the room. It had only taken a few seconds to arrive at the scene.

He froze. The battle had ended. There were several places of small flames, clattered weapons and tools spread out.

He could feel the presence of something lying right by his feet. He hesitantly looked down and gasped. His legs felt numb as he trembled. He fell to his knees once he couldn't stand any longer. His stare didn't faze at all as he looked on in horror. His dear beloved friend laid in front of him.

He couldn't hold back a cry of anger and grief. "WHHHYYY?! Why not meee?!" He put his hands to his face and shook it, sobbing quietly in the process.

"I had it!" A certain hot head said, throwing his tool to the ground. "Let's face it! We are never going to be able to do this to save our lives." Then, he noticed his brother on his knees and realized what lay in front of him. They were in deep trouble.

He also noticed the brain of the group was lying nearby as well. He ran over and kneeled down by him. "Don? Don, are you alright?"

He groaned and coughed out a bit of black smoke. "Yeah, I'm good." Donnie sat up and coughed once more. "What about Leo and Mike?"

Raph could do nothing, but respond by looking towards the kneeling turtle. Don had looked over as well. And once he saw the scene, he widened his eyes. With the help of his older brother, he stood up and walked over. They all stood over the kneeling turtle from behind and looked down.

The turtle that was grieving sensed the presence of the two and suddenly grew angry. He couldn't control it. He stood up and faced them with the speed of light. The middle siblings of the bunch had to back up a step or two from the action.

"You were all supposed to look after each other!" The leader yelled. "And look what you did!"

"What we did?" Raph yelled back. "It wasn't our fault!"

"Oh, really? Then, how did this happen, huh?!" He yelled. Never before had the two seen such anger. Yet, they could see behind his eyes. He was upset, saddened, and grief-filled.

The leader yelled once again. "All you had to do was make eggs!"

"Well, it's not easy!"

The three that was arguing looked to the top of the refrigerator, where a certain blue-banded turtle was lying on his shell and his head hanging over the edge.

"How did you even get up there?!" Mikey yelled, still angered. "It's cooking! How is that possible?!"

"I'm fine. Thanks for the worry." Leo said sarcastically. He turned himself to his plastron and leaped off. But the leap was interrupted and failed to land on his feet. Instead, he landed face-down and groaned.

The second-oldest gave a curt chuckle. "You alright, chief?"

"Oh, so now you worry?" Leo asked, getting up to his feet.

"Better than never." Raph stated.

Leo knew better than to have another fight. Right now, he noticed Mikey's prized possession was destroyed and Mike was very happy at the moment. "I can't believe you, guys!" He picked up his burned cooking utensil that was always beside him when cooking. "Just look at Lady!"

"You named a plastic ladle 'Lady'?" Don asked, a bit confused and a bit freaked out by his younger brother.

"It fits." Mikey had pouted. Then, he changed his "But look at her now! All burned up and bent! She was always there for me!"

"This is what happens when you're lonely." Raph said. "Then again, this is Mikey."

"That's it. It took me nearly two decades to teach you guys about cooking and you can't even get a single fried egg right. Let's face it." Mikey said, shaking his head. "You guys aren't made for cooking."

Just then, Master Splinter came in the kitchen. Amazingly, he hadn't aged very much after 15 more years of the boys. There was a bit more places of gray fur and he had to use his cane for walking. He walked straight in without any surprised expression. Apparently, this was normal for the rat master. He went to the brew and poured out some tea. Then, he began to walk off. He stopped at the entrance and looked back once again. He gave a small chuckle. "I keep on forgetting that you're not teenagers."

"Well, isn't that normal for the elderly?" Mikey decided to announce, which received a smack to the back of his head by the one and only Raphael.

By now, Master Splinter would scold his son, but only chuckled. "The memories." He smiled. The only thing to do now was to go back to his room and meditate. "Make sure to clean this all up."

"Of course, Master Splinter." Leonardo responded, bowing down traditionally with great respect, as do all students of their masters.

Sensei nodded his head and left to his room. Now that he left, they had nothing to say, but Mikey sure had some things in his mind.

"Guys," Mikey said solemnly, "it is with great honor that I say...you all suck at cooking."

"Can you at least taste what we prepared?" Don asked, gesturing his hand to the counter in the middle of the kitchen.

Mikey looked to the counter and saw three plates. What was on these plates could make anyone gag at the horrific sight. They were nowhere near the image of eggs. There sat three black piles of who-knows-what with such a foul stench, that Mike had to scrunch up his nose. "I know you guys hate me when I bother you and stuff, but killing someone is not the answer."

They all rolled their eyes.

"We can still make ramen." Don grumbled.

"Instant-ramen." Mikey corrected. "I thought you were the specific one, Don."

They all slumped. Mike felt a bit bad for them. After all, what would it feel like for people to serve you all your life? Well, actually, that sounds good, but...never mind that. "Cheer up." Mikey said. "Look at the bright side. One less chore for you guys to do."

They shrugged. They had a good thing out of it.

"Hey, guys!"

The turtles turned around to see a beautiful grown woman with long read-head hair. The friend they had since teenage years, April O'Neil. The woman had ran in and had shouted the exclamation in alert than in greeting.

"April, what's wrong?" Leo asked, filled with the same concern once she ran in.

She tried to catch her breath. Don had gone over and put a hand on her shoulder and with the other hand, holding her hand.

"After all these years," Mikey whispered to Raph, "you'd think Don would have let go of his crush already or at least asked her out."

"Yeah." Raph responded in the same level. "It's sadorable."

Mikey giggled. He could totally remember when Raph had first said that to his younger brother. Finally, April caught her breath. She continued, "You won't believe," she gave one last exhale, "what just happened."

"What's wrong, April?" Leo repeated.

"I saw a Kraangdroid." April said, giving them all a sympathetic look as their jaws dropped. "Sorry, guys. I guess it isn't over."

"B-but..." Raph stammered. "We defeated those creeps years ago. How are they back?" He sighed exasperatedly.

"They didn't admit full defeat. They still want the earth." April said. She could tell that they couldn't believe it. But life could be a pain.

"Where did you see it?" Don asked, now letting go since she was fine.

"It was just walking freely in the streets. Their human-like robot got much better by the way, but still the same face. I think it was heading towards TCRI." April said.

"TCRI," Leo growled, "I should have known. They're probably trying to restart everything all over again."

"Here." She passed them her T-phone. It was now very old it seemed. She barely used it since they had upgraded phones, all thanks to the brains of the group. No, not you, Michelangelo.

"Why are you giving it to us?" Don asked, taking a hold of it.

"I was tracking the Kraang down with it when it just shut off," April said, "Maybe you can fix it?"

Don hummed as he flipped over the phone and opened it up, like a remote in need of replacement batteries. "Huh," Don exhaled, "One of the wires is part in two. Did you know, April?"

April shook her head. "No."

Doing his signature tongue-out-his-mouth routine in working, he carefully put them back together, shocking him slightly. He put the lid back on and turned it around to see the screen shining again. "Is it okay that we use this to track them?"

"Of course!" April said, the four then ran out to find this droid. "Be careful, guys!" She shouted. She could also here them from the kitchen as they ran through the tunnels.

"Hey, if the Kraang are starting over, do you think we're starting over?" Mikey asked. "You think we'll see another girl, one of us fall in love with her, and rescue her?"

"Yeah, maybe," Raph said, but you can hint on his sarcasm. "If you were thrown to the wall as a baby."

"Anything's possible, dude!" Mikey retorted.

"Yeah," Leo started to say, "I would love to see one of you fall in love with a girl, who turns out is the bad guy, get yelled at, and get slapped with rolled up newspaper."

April giggled. She remembered that day very well. No regrets.

Everyone besides the leader stopped. "What the shell are you talking about?" Raph asked as Leo just stopped too. "Rolled up newspaper?"

"Oh, right. You don't, uh ... let's just move!" Leo said, starting his run again.

Once April could no longer hear the sound of the turtles, she headed towards the dojo. It was nice to be a ninja with a great father figure, Sensei. She saw him cross-legged in front of the old tree. She walked over an kneeled down in front of him. "Shall we get started?"

Master Splinter opened his eyes and chuckled. "Let's shall."

* * *

The boys jumped from buildings to others, trying to follow the unusually fast Kraangdroid.

Don said, running while holding the old T-phone, "Maybe it's using a van. It's impossible to run at this speed for one droid."

"Then, we'll need the Shellraiser." Leo said.

"Don't worry, I asked Metalhead to get it for us already. Should be here any minute."

"You know what's better?" Raph asked during the run. "Flying. Want to fly, Mikey?"

"I love flying!" Mikey said. "And I always will-ahhh!"

Raph had picked Mikey up and threw him over the edge. "Then, here ya go!"

Miley had screamed and Leo and Don had to stop at the sound. Once they realized what happened, they screamed.

"I knew it!" Don yelled. "I knew Raph would go kill-crazy on us!"

"Don-" Leo tried to say, looking over the edge.

"I knew this day would come! He snapped!" Don panicked.

"Donnie-"

"Quick! Leo, hold him-!"

"Donatello!" Leo shouted, getting irritated for Don not listening.

"What?!" He yelled back.

"Look over the edge." Leo motioned his head towards the streets.

Don was about to refuse for sure, but hearing Leo's voice, he sounded annoyed, not worried as he would expect on seeing a turtle pancake. With a bit of worry, he slowly went to Leo's side, away from Raph mind you, and looked down. By the look of things, they were only two-stories high. Mikey had landed on the Shellraiser and was still lying there with a groan, but didn't look as if he was severely hurt.

"Don't worry." He called. He shook his head and pushed himself up to sit up."I'm okay!"

"So, what were you saying, Don?" Raph asked, looking over Leo to see him. He was giving him a dirty look, from what Don said just a minute ago.

Don had a drop of sweat on his forehead. "Nothing important."

"Yeah." Raph said sarcastically. "Nothing at all." He jumped down and landed on the roof of the Shellraiser, starting to go inside as well as Mikey.

Leo looked at Don and blinked.

"What?" Don said. Leo gave him unamused expression. "You never know!"

"Kill-crazy?" Leo asked with a bit of a cracked voice, obviously to refrained from laughing.

"We don't have time to lose, the Kraang are getting away!" Then, he jumped down and landed on the ground, following inside the Shellraiser.

Leo chuckled. He knew he wasn't the only one thinking of a kill-crazy Raph. He also thought Don could turn into a mad scientist. "I wonder if I can make a bet with Mikey." Before his brothers could call on him, he quickly jumped down and went into the Shellraiser as well.

* * *

April took out her new up-graded T-phone and dialed. She had to admit though, these phone that Donnie made were more advanced than the other phones. He made it even look like a real touch-screen phone, so others won't be suspicious. Plus, it had great connection and free music. April was really impressed by what he could do.

Finally, someone on the other end answered, "Yello?" The voice sounded like he was trying to sound cool, but a hint of exhaustion showed.

"Casey, how are you holding up?" April asked.

"Fine. Could be better, but fine." Casey said, taking another breath of air.

"We're running a bit behind schedule. You'll have to find ways to hold up another half hour and-"

"Half hour?!" Casey yelled. "I might as well be dead!"

"Come on." April urged. "You've been through worse. Pretty sure you can run a bit more." She could tell this could run long, so she put her phone between her shoulder and side of her head. This way, she can use both her hands to prepare some food.

"You think it's that easy? You're lucky you get to stay at the lair. I'd rather be there to chat with Raph a bit, maybe spar a bit for the heck of it. But I ain't gonna run much more!" Casey complained. It wasn't long until he could get caught if he didn't think of something.

"You got skates, don't you?" April said. April knew him and as the hockey player he is, he looks to take his hockey stick and skates with him all the time, even as an adult now.

It was barely audible, but April heard him mutter, "Sassy redhead."

"What was that, Casey?" April asked as sweetly as she could muster.

"I said I have 'em. Alright, I'm going out." Casey said and cut the phone off.

April placed the phone on the counter next to her and shook her head, but wore an amused grin. "Boys will be boys."

* * *

The ride wasn't long until the turtles had arrived at TCRI. The dot on the locater indicated that the droid was in there right now.

"Okay. Like always, team." Leo said as he parked the Shellraiser in a close dark alley.

The turtles crept into the building, looking around as the destruction was yet to be cleaned up. If the Kraang were to once again build it up, the four boys would have no idea on how to stop them permanently.

After a full ten minutes, Mikey couldn't take it. He said to Don, "Are you sure they're here?"

"Positive. We're actually in the exact same spot as ...the tracker said...the Kraang is?" Don said with confusion taking over his voice.

"Maybe they're upstairs?" Mikey suggested.

"Either that or in the basement," Leo said, "We split up. Don and Mikey, upstairs. Raph and I go down. Be careful."

They all nodded and took each group went to the two stairs leading to different levels. Leo and Raph went down to the Basement level and saw as they were descending the stairs, it was getting darker. Once they reached the floor, something spot hit their faces. They waved their arm around their faces.

"Ugh, spider webs." Leo said, taking a look around the room. No doubt anyone has been here for at least a decade, giving more than enough time for spiders, if not rats, to fill the room. "And lots of it."

To Raph's annoyance, there were cockroaches as well. Why was he always the unlucky one? He was glad they only appeared to be in the corners of the room though. Any closer and he would freak, which was the last thing he wanted to do in front of his older brother. "Let's just hurry up and destroy that Kraang."

As they tried to pass the webs and look around for anything useful, there was a soft growl coming from behind. It swiftly move from one side to the other side of the room, yet the siblings didn't notice.

Something tapped Leo's shoulder and he looked to Raph. "What?"

Raph looked back to him. He shrugged. "What are you talking about?"

"Raph," Leo began to chastise, momentarily forgetting the search, "you're being too immature for an adult. Come on, tapping my shoulder and acting as if you didn't? Grow up."

"I didn't do anything!" Raph yelled. "Man, you're unbearable."

"Oh, so nothing tapped my shoulder? This behavior will not be tolerated."

Raph was about to respond back, but he stopped a moment. "Uhh, Leo?"

"We're adults! I mean, you're acting like a kid. Not only that, but after all these years, you still have a temper."

"Leo..."

"Some would think you would control it by now, but-" Another tap on his shoulder. Suspecting it as his brothers, he halfheartedly turned his head a bit and responded, "Not now." He faced Raph again and lifted up his finger to finalize his point, until his thinking had processed what he saw. "...oh."

He jumped next to Raph and took out his weapons, facing the enemy as it growled. Raph hated this. As much as he loved fighting, he would anyone else, but this guy. Even the Shredder, but not him. Here standing in front of him was the double-mutated spy-roach, growling right at Raph.

"Okay, Raph. We're going to do this together. Here's what we're going to do. I'll attack from above and you do below. Got it?" Leo said, not taking a single second off the bug. When his brother didn't respond, he took the risk to look beside him, seeing no one there.

"The door is locked!" Raph yelled, pulling and twisting on the entrance's knob. But the outcome didn't come desired. "That stupid bug locked the door!"

"Did you just ditch me?" Leo asked. He shook his head. He can think about it later. "Nevermind, just help me fight this bug!"

* * *

As Donnie and Mikey slowly and quietly ascended the steps, they kept an eye out for any robots to come out and attack. Finally, when they reached the top floor, they could tell the free wide space had nothing of interest.

Don looked down at the tracker in his hands. "It says here that the Kraang should be right in the middle of the room, but no one's there. That means they have to be in the basement. Come on, Mikey, they must be fighting him right now." Don said, already rushing to the stairs.

"Alright, but what about that moving box?" Mikey said, pointing in the right side of the room, clearly showing a card board box moving in place twisting and jumping around.

Don's eyes went wide. What if it was the Kraang? But why would they be in a box? What's next, the Shredder in a box too? Don cautiously walked over and un-sheathed his bo staff. When he got near enough, he used the tip of the stick to open up the box. The box stopped immediately. After a few seconds, nothing came out. Slowly, Don looked over the side. The result ended up with something screeching and landed on his face. Screaming, he grabbed the thing now stuck to his face and tried to pry it out. "Mikey! Help!"

"Aww!" Mikey cooed. "It's an adorable kitty!"

"It's a furry little nightmare! Get it off me!" Don yelled, as the cat ran around his face like lightning, hissing and clawing like its life depended on it.

"Alright, but it's so cute, why would you want it off you? It obviously loves you!" Mikey said, smiling at the cute creature.

"It's trying to kill me!" Don yelled. As he tried to pry it off, he was stumbling around, not able to see where he's going.

But Mikey could see he was heading near the stairs. "Uh, Don, be careful. There's stairs behind you."

Don didn't have time to stop. He lost his footing and began bouncing down the stairs backwards. "Ow! Oof! Ah!"

"I warned you, Don!" Mikey shouted down as his brother continued stumbling down the steps. "But you never listen!"

"I-oof-will-ah-kill-eh-you-agh!" Don said between grunts of being hit by the stairs.

Mikey ran down the stairs to follow his unfortunate brother.

* * *

Leo tried to keep up, but he knew he couldn't fight this bug alone. "Raph! Quit being a baby and help me out!" Then, he was hit once again by the spy-roach and fly mid-air. He hit the wall behind him and the wall resulted with a crack. He had been hit several times by the thing and he was covered in its disgusting slime.

Raph responded, "I'm not fighting that freak! Get me out of here!" Raph shouted as he pounded on the door.

As if it were a response, the door ripped out its hinges and fell down. It hit Raph in the process, making him, the door, and whatever hit the door, fall down the steps. Finally, Raph landed on his plastron with the door and other object on top. Raph groaned, "Get off me, Don!"

Don only groaned back, not only did he fall down two flights of stairs, but he was still being attacked by the kitten. He gave up already with it.

"Oh my gosh, are you okay?!" Mikey yelled as he ran down the steps to the heap in the basement.

Don smiled at Mikey's worry he had for him. "Nothing more than a few bruises."

"Not you!" Mike yelled. He gently picked up the kitten, which seemed to have calmed down at his touch, and cradled it in his arms. "Are you okay, little kitty?" The ginger kitten responded by giving the turtle a lick on the cheek, which made him giggle.

Don frowned. "I can't believe this."

"You know what I can't believe?" Leo asked. Then, he shouted. "I'm in battle with the enemy here and you guys are just chatting!"

It was only then that the three looked at the figure in front of Leo. Raph instinctively ran out screaming.

"Don't worry, little kitty, I'll protect you!" Mikey said, as he cuddled the creature tighter and ran up the stairs.

Leo looked pleadingly at Don. Don gave the spy-roach another look. After the years, it definitely grew a great height. Don looked back at Leo, who asked, "Please, help me out here, Donnie."

Though, the second the roach looked to Don, he sprinted up the stairs and left the scene. "On your own!"

Leo sighed. "Such caring brothers." He looked back at the bug. He never was going to win this on his own. "Hey, look at the time, better leave for stuff."

Leo, too, ran up the steps and through the entrance. He quickly ran over to where the Shellraiser was parked and went in; also, he noticed his brothers were already there. Quickly, he went to the driver's seat and started the engine, driving like crazy out of there. "Thanks for the help!" Leo shouted sarcastically over his shoulder.

"Dude, no one was going to mess with that giant thing!" Mikey said, still holding the kitten.

"Yeah, and leave me behind, huh?" Leo spat. Before he could add more, the spy-roach popped up in screen, showing what Leo was about to run into.

They all screamed as they knew their crash would end up critically. Until Raph decided to completely avoid the thing by grabbing the wheel and pulling it sharply to the right. What the screen showed in front of them, made them scream even louder as they crashed into a building.

* * *

April put the finishing touches on her masterpiece. She finished it just in time too, because she heard Casey running in.

"April, Splinter, they're coming!" He yelled, diving behind the island, or kitchen table, in the room.

"Everyone, hide!" April shouted. She turned off the lights before hiding next to Casey and Sensei behind the island.

They all heard the shuffling pairs of feet coming into the kitchen, almost as if dragging, but they were too excited to care. Deciding it was close enough when the lights turned on, April and the two men jumped out in front of the turtles. "Happy 30th Mutation Day!" Then, they all gasped at the sight before them.

Leo was covered in what seemed like clear slime all over, with a few spider webs here and there. Raph also had a bit of slime, but mostly spider webs all over him as well. Donnie looked like he was attacked by a miniature bear with all the claw marks left in his upper body, mostly his face. Mikey, well, seemed perfectly fine. What they all had in common though was the fact that all of them were covered in chicken feathers.

"What happened to all of you?" April said in concern.

"We've tried to catch the Kraang," Leo started with a bit of shamed tone in his voice, "but we bumped into a bit of trouble."

Casey tried to suppress his laughter. Chicken feathers? Oh, no, this was too good. It couldn't be real, it seems like a cartoon. But here he was, seeing four feathered turtles. "Oh, this is gold. Hey, why don't you do the chicken dance while you're like this!' Casey laughed, taking a few pictures in his phone.

The turtles were all embarrassed. They would never hear the end of it. But they were also angered, at Casey specifically.

"Mike?" Raph asked, giving him a well-known look. A look of revenge.

"Say no more." Mikey waved off. "Go get him, Klunk!" He threw the kitten to Casey and obeying the turtle, had begun fighting him as it did to Don.

"Ahh! Get him off me!" Casey yelled, running out of the room.

Now, it was the turtle's turn to laugh. Once they had a good laugh, they joined April and Sensei in the cake they made for them in their special occasion. It almost made up for the whole chase incident, in which April explained and apologized as it was only to get them out of the lair for the surprise. Yeah, it was a good day to remember. A good day.


End file.
